


showing never tells

by fangirl_squee



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: F/M, Other, Sneaking Around
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 10:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18497365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_squee/pseuds/fangirl_squee
Summary: What Juno doesn't know won't hurt him, but it does make things difficult sometimes.





	showing never tells

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to maddie for looking this over, I would be lost without them
> 
> title from 'through the backyards' by au revoir simone, a nice dreamy song

Rita's head shot up as Juno rushed into the office. She tried to sit up straighter in her chair without making the movement too obvious, hoping that she didn’t look too flushed. Juno, thankfully, seemed too distracted to notice, his eyes scanning the room.

 

"Rita," said Juno, sounding out of breath, "has anyone come in here?"

 

Rita frowned. "No? Mista Steel, are you-"

 

"No one? Are you sure?" said Juno.

 

Juno threw open the door to his office, looking under the desk and inside the filing cabinet before he came back out. He ran a hand through his hair, looking more confused and almost a touch disappointed.

 

"I could have  _ sworn  _ I saw..." He looked back up at Rita. "You're  _ sure _ no one's come in today?"

 

"Of course I'm sure, I've been here all day!" said Rita.

 

"No one, right." He ran his hand through his hair again, making it stick up at odd angles. "I'm going out. If anyone comes by this afternoon,  _ anyone _ , call me."

 

"Are you expectin’ someone?"

 

"A ghost," said Juno, and left, which wasn't really an out of the ordinary way for him to leave.

 

Rita waited until she heard the burst of noise from the street below followed by the click of the door that meant Juno had left the building. She let out a breath, pushing her chair back a little to look at where Mick was crouched under the desk, his hands still resting on her knees.

 

"That was close," said Mick.

 

'Yeah," said Rita, "we should probably stop doin’ this during work hours. Or at least not at the office."

 

"We should probably tell Juno," said Mick.

 

"Do  _ you _ want to tell him?" said Rita.

 

Mick made a face that said _no, he very much did not want to_ _tell Juno_.

 

" _ Exactly _ ," said Rita.

 

She ran a hand through Mick's hair, softening the tone of her words, and he leant into her touch. For such a messy guy he had the softest hair Rita had ever had her good fortune to put her hands in, and as a bonus feature Mick seemed to really like it when she did. He closed his eyes, his head dropping forward to rest on her knee.

 

"We gotta tell him eventually though," said Mick.

 

Rita sighed. "Yeah, I know."

  
  


It's not like they  _ meant _ to keep it from Juno. He was just going through a lot (he was  _ always _ going through a lot), and it felt cruel to go through a whole big talk with him over one after-work-drinks-not-a- _ date _ -date, or a second dinner-sort-of-date after that, or a third almost-certainly-a-date-lunch after that. And then Rita blinked and it had been six months, and now it seemed cruel to have  _ not _ done a whole big talk.

 

There would probably be a  _ moment _ , Rita thought, there would be a moment, with the perfect space to it to tell Juno.

 

The moment, of course, kept not happening. Their near misses did not.

  
  


Rita pushed the shirt into Mick's hands, scrambling to grab his pants as well before she shoved him towards the storage cupboard.

 

"I just don't see why I gotta hide," whispered Mick, "can't I just be, I dunno, visiting Juno or something?"

 

"Mista Steel's been awful distracted lately but even he's gonna notice that you're visitin’ without your pants," Rita whispered back.

 

Mick frowned but he moved towards the cupboard, letting her hands guide his movements just as he had moments ago in much more pleasurable circumstances.

 

"How long am I gonna have to stay in here?"

 

"He's gonna be in and out," said Rita confidently.

 

"How do you know that?"

 

Rita kissed him on the cheek, enjoying the way Mick's blush spread down his neck. "Because I'm gonna make sure of it."

 

"Okay-"

 

Rita heard the  _ click _ of the door, quickly shutting the cupboard and stepping away, smoothing down her hair. The fraction of the second before the door opened she noticed Mick's sock still under her desk, the electric blue M MERCURY along the top of it a neon sign of his presence.

 

"Hi Mista Steel!"

 

Juno blinked. "Uh. Hi." He shook himself, looking around the office. "Rita, I need the file on Jamerson-"

 

Rita snatched the file off her chair where it had fallen off the desk earlier, hiding Mick's sock from Juno's view. "Right here boss!"

 

"That was fast," said Juno, taking the file, "Usually you're deep in the second act of some space soap opera by now."

 

"They're, uh, they're on hiatus," said Rita, inching towards her desk.

 

"I didn't think soap operas took hiatuses," said Juno.

 

"They... don't," said Rita, "but uh, the... oh! The main actor, Vincent Lambada, he's in a coma on the show, or, he was in the last episode, only he got in an accident last week and got in a coma  _ for real _ , and they were going to keep the show goin’ but  _ apparently _ he had it in his contract that they couldn't film his scripts without him and he was supposed to come out of the coma in the next episode so-"

 

"Yeah, okay," said Juno. He flicked forward in the file, then back, then forward again, frowning at the page. "Rita, can you get me a blueprint of their head office."

 

"The head office of  _ As The Stars Turn _ ?"

 

Juno looked up, then frowned. "Of the- No, the Jamerson building."

 

"Oh," said Rita, "Right!" She sat down, letting the momentum roll her chair right past Mick's sock and kicking it under her desk. "comin’ right up!'

 

Juno sat down on the edge of her desk, frowning his way through the folder while she pulled up the blueprints, reaching easily through the building’s firewalls. She turned the screen around so Juno could see.

 

"There!"

 

"Mm," Juno looked down at the screen, setting the file down to use both pointer fingers to move the blueprint around. "It's... hmm."

 

Rita leaned over the screen. "What is it boss?"

 

"The guy I talked to today built a room for them that's not on the blueprints," said Juno, "are you sure these are up to date?"

 

Rita bristled. "Of course they're up to date, that's what's in their system that they sent to the city."

 

"It's what's in the system..." said Juno quietly, "so if they wanted to keep something out of the eyes of the city, all they'd have to do it forget to update their blueprints..."

 

"Who would?"

 

Juno straightened, heading for the door. "Whoever it is who's trying to keep it a secret."

 

Rita held her breath until she heard the door close at the bottom of the stairs, bending to get Mick's sock before she opened up the cupboard.

 

"That  _ was  _ fast!"

 

Rita grinned. "I told ya!"

 

Mick grinned back, sliding his arms around her waist. Rita let herself be guided this time.

 

"You did!" said Mick, "Wait, did you know about the blueprints already?"

 

Rita waved a hand. "Nah, but there's always something. Mista Steel doesn't do much hangin’ around the office in the middle of a case, especially not lately."

 

Mick frowned. "Is he okay?"

 

Rita sighed. "I don't know. When I ask he just says somethin’ about lookin’ for someone who's not there, or shouldn't be there or somethin’ and then he's runnin’ out the door again."

 

Mick rubbed his hands up and down Rita's arms

 

"So," said Mick, "does that mean you have time for a lunch date?"

 

Rita laughed. "Mista  _ Mercury _ , we already  _ had _ a lunch date, that's what got us into this trouble in the first place!"

 

"Afternoon date then," said Mick, “We’ll do something before dinner, walk around the block or something.”

 

Rita eyes slid to the blueprints, still up on her screen. "I can't, Mista Steel's gonna get there and then he's gonna need me to rescue him."

 

Still, she let Mick distract her a little until the phone rang. Rita hit the button on her headset, letting herself lean into Mick's chest.

 

"Rita-" it was Juno, of course, barely audible over the sound of alarms, "Rita, what's the alarm code?"

 

Rita sprang into action, diving back into the code of the building. "Doesn't have one."

 

"What! What do you mean it doesn't have one?"

 

"I mean it doesn't have one!" said Rita, "they set it up that way so it's easier for- uh oh."

 

" _ Rita _ ," said Juno.

 

"It's set up so that the alarm keeps going until the building’s private security force gets there and turns it off," said Rita.

 

"The private security force for the building," said Juno, "Of course. Great."

 

Rita's hands moved fast, pulling up layers of internal security and discarding them just as fast. "No worries boss, there's usually a way to- hmm. Okay! Easy!"

 

"Rita," said Juno again.

 

"All I have to do it turn the power off," said Rita.

 

"And that stops the private security from coming in here?"

 

"No,” said Rita, "but it'll turn off the alarm and disable the entry doors so they'll have a pretty hard time gettin’ in, but-"

 

"Great, do it," said Juno.

 

"But-"

 

"Just do it Rita!"

 

Rita huffed a breath. "Fine."

 

The sound of the alarms cut off abruptly in Rita's headset, followed by the sound of Juno tripping over something. Rita made a face at Mick across the desk, who gave her a sympathetic look in return.

 

"Mista Steel?"

 

"I'm fine," said Juno. He sounded annoyed, which meant it was probably only a bruise. "It's darker than an Oldtown sewer in here."

 

"Oh!" said Rita, "Here-"

 

It was easy to divert a small amount of power to turn on the emergency lighting. The whole lockdown system was pretty similar to the one she's installed in Juno's apartment (which probably meant she needed to update it). 

 

She heard Juno let out a breath, which meant the lights had come on. Rita took Mick's hand across the desk and squeezed it. He smiled, sitting on the edge of the desk so she could keep holding his hand as she typed.

 

"Great." There was a metallic rattling sound. "Uh, Rita? The door's locked."

 

"Of course it is Mista Steel, the building's in lockdown."

 

"Then how do I get out?"

 

Rita paused. "Oh."

 

"Yeah," said Juno, "Oh."

 

Rita left go of Mick's hand, battling her way through the building's internal security parameters. "I'll, um, I'm working on it right now Mista Steel."

 

"Sure," said Juno, "Well, at least I'll have time to find that secret room before the private security gets me."

 

Mick leant closer to her, peering at the screen with the blueprint on it. He frowned, moving the blueprint around, zooming in and out for a moment before he gestured trying to get her attention.

 

Rita quickly muted her side of the call, looking at Mick expectantly.

 

"On the blueprint, it's- Juno said there wasn't an extra room on it even though he knew there was one, right?"

 

"Right," said Rita.

 

"But there  _ is _ another room on here."

 

"What?"

 

Rita turned the screen towards her, looking over the blueprint. Mick wasn't wrong, not exactly. The office space has a cookie-cutter pattern to it - a row of rooms separated by a corridor, then another row of room. Only the row of executive offices was different, with the office-corridor-office pattern broken by a small corridor running in-between two of the offices, too small to be a storage space.

 

Rita turned back to the buildings internal codes, searching through until she found the lines she was looking for. Strange - the security code for that corridor was separate from the rest of the building, almost like you'd find with a vault. She bit the inside of her cheek for a moment, thinking, then entered in a new command line, telling the internal security that it was okay for whatever door was in there to open up.

 

She heard a  _ click-hiss _ of a door opening on Juno's end of the phone and unmuted her side of the call.

 

"Rita-" said Juno.

 

"That was me Mista Steel," said Rita, "that corridor goes to the next office, and from there you should be able to get to the private elevator, then turn left-left-right-left and then take the service elevator to the basement, then right-right-right-straight-left and you're out! Easy!"

 

"Yeah," said Juno, "Easy."

 

He left the channel open, and Rita listened to Juno's footsteps echo in the tiny space while she tangled up the front door's system to buy Juno some time against the private security currently en route.

 

"Rita," said Juno quietly, "can you turn a light on in here or something?"

 

Rita made a face at her screen. "Let me just-"

 

"Thanks," said Juno.

 

Rita froze, her hands hovering above the keyboard. "Uh."

 

Juno's footsteps stopped. "What?"

 

"Mista Steel," said Rita carefully, "are the lights on right now?"

 

"I already said thank you," said Juno.

 

"But I haven't turned them on yet," said Rita, "according to the building's system they're still off."

 

Juno paused. "Okay. Okay, great."

 

Rita thought quickly, tabbing through the building's security systems trying to find something, anything, obviously that area didn't have cameras but it might have-

 

"Ah ha!" said Rita, "heat sensors! Now just- uh oh."

 

" _ Uh oh _ ? Rita-"

 

"There's someone else in there with you Mista Steel," said Rita, whispering.

 

"Armed?"

 

"Not with anything hot," said Rita.

 

She heard Juno draw a sharp breath. "That's not true."

 

"Mista Steel?"

 

"Hello Juno," said a voice on Juno's end of the phone.

 

Rita wrinkled her nose. She knew that voice. Juno had only played and replayed every recording he had of the man for months after he'd left.

 

"What is it?" whispered Mick.

 

"It's Mista Nureyev," whispered Rita.

 

"Yeah," said Juno, "I can see that. What are you doing here, Nureyev?"

 

"The same thing I presume you're here for my dear Juno," said Peter, "In fact, I was hoping I would bump into you."

 

"In this hidden room while we're under lockdown?" said Juno.

 

"I admit the circumstances aren't  _ ideal _ ," said Peter, "but with you they rarely are."

 

"I knew I’d been seeing you following me! I-” Juno took a breath, steadying himself. “Do you even know what's in that case?"

 

"I know it's very important to a lot of people," said Peter, "and worth quite a large amount to match. Rather more than you could afford I would think. A shame really. You know I'd  _ much  _ rather give it to you."

 

Rita rolled her eyes. "Mista Steel, you got eight minutes until private security busts through into the first floor."

 

"Alright, alright," said Juno, "listen, Nureyev, we don't have time for this-"

 

"I'm hurt, Juno," said Peter. "I always make time for  _ you _ ."

 

Juno made a frustrated noise, followed by the familiar sound of Juno fighting with someone. If Peter had a weapon, he wasn't firing it. Then again, neither was Juno.

 

"Rita," said Juno, panting, "find us a way out of here."

 

"Finally running away with me detective?" said Peter.

 

"I'm-" Juno took a deep breath. "Listen, private security are minutes away from blasting us first and asking questions never. Let's get out of here, and then we can figure out whether or not I can afford whatever's in that case."

 

"What makes you think I don't have my own escape route?" said Peter.

 

"Do you?"

 

Peter paused. "No."

 

Juno huffed a laugh. "Rita, get us out of here."

 

"Are you sure it's a good idea, Mista Steel?"

 

"No," said Juno, "But it's the best one I've got right now."

 

There was another  _ click-hiss _ as Rita unlocked the corridor's other door.

 

"Okay, so, private elevator," said Juno, "and then, uh..."

 

"Then left-left-right-left, take the service elevator to the basement," said Rita, "then right-right-right-straight-left and you're out of the building. Easy!"

 

"Easy. Right," said Juno.

 

There was a thunk and Rita could picture him slumping against the elevator wall as it made its way to the lobby.

 

"Juno. Now that we have a moment..."

 

"Yeah," breathed Juno.

 

"Mista Steel," said Rita.

 

"I'll call you later Rita," said Juno, and hung up.

 

Rita narrowed her eyes at the screen, waiting until the motion detectors sensed Juno leave the building before she let out a breath and started erasing the security record and replacing it with one that said the system had been triggered by an internal error. 

 

"Done," said Rita, relaxing back into her chair.

 

"Ms Rita," said Mick, "you're  _ amazing _ ."

 

Rita laughed, fondness bubbling in her chest. "Thank you Mista Mercury."

 

Mick grinned, pulling her up from her chair and wrapping his arms around her. She leant against his chest for a moment, closing her eyes.

 

"So," said Mick, "I'm thinking dinner to celebrate another case successfully complete. Somewhere nice."

 

Rita tilted her head up. "That sounds-"

 

There was a crashing sound as the door slammed open and Rita and Mick sprang apart.

 

" _ Mista Steel _ !"

 

Juno and Peter did not spring apart quite as far as she and Mick had, leaning back from one another, their hands still tangled in one another's clothing. Juno blinked at her a few times.

 

"Uh, hi- wait, Mick? What are you doing here?"

 

"Uh, I'm, uh-"

 

"He's here to return, this uh, this... pen!" said Rita, holding up the first thing her hand touched on her desk, a novelty pen with a bright green ball of feathers on the end.

 

"Yeah!" said Mick, "Uh, thanks for letting me borrow it."

 

"No problem," said Rita, "Actually, this is my pen from home, so I should probably get going so I can get it back there."

 

"Right," said Mick.

 

Rita nudged him with her elbow.

 

"Ow! Oh! Uh, I should escort you," said Mick, "Hyperion City's a dangerous place out there at night."

 

"It's 4pm," said Juno.

 

Rita pretended she hadn't heard him. "You're right Mista Mercury, you can escort me out of here while Mista Nureyev escorts Juno in here."

 

Peter laughed. Juno made a sputtering noise, which only served to make Peter laugh more.

 

"It would be absolutely my pleasure," said Peter, "And Juno's too, if I have a say in it."

 

"Well," said Rita, tugging Mick towards the door, "bye, goodnight Mista Steel!"

 

"Again, it's 4pm," said Juno, "it's not as if we're going to bed."

 

"Isn't it?" said Peter.

 

The door slammed shut behind Rita and Mick before they could hear Juno's response, and she hustled Mick downstairs.

 

"That was close," said Mick, "do you think they saw us?"

 

"Nah," said Rita, "they were much too busy seein’ each other."

  
  


Mick  _ did _ take her somewhere nice - a small diner a few blocks away from the office. It wasn't fancy, but it was quiet, at least by Hyperion City standards, they thick glass of the windows muting the sound of the city outside, the thick booth seating muffling the sound of the other patrons. Mick held her hand across the table while he and Rita dissected the plot of the latest episode of  _ As The Stars Turn _ .

 

"Rita?"

 

They turned to see Juno and Peter standing in front of their table. Juno looked as surprised to see them as they looked to see him. Rita felt the urge to withdraw her hand and pushed against it, squeezing Mick's hand.

 

Juno's eyes dropped to their joined hands, flicking back up to their faces. "What-?"

 

"Now now Juno," said Peter, his hands dropping to Juno's waist, "I'm sure there are plenty of other equally fine establishments for us to have our dinner. After all, we've already made them change the location of their date once, it only seems fair that it be our turn this time."

 

"Date..." said Juno faintly.

 

"We were gonna tell you Juno, but, uh..." said Mick.

 

"No, it's... fine, you... it's fine," said Juno in a strained voice.

 

"Don't worry," said Peter conspiratorially. "I'll take care of him, we'll get out of your hair. Have a good rest of your date."

 

"Thanks Mista Nureyev," said Rita, "you too."

 

Peter laughed, turning Juno around and guiding him away, out of the diner.

 

"Well," said Mick, taking a sip of water, "I guess now we don't have to worry about telling him."

 

Rita nodded. "We probably still shouldn't tell him about anythin’ we did in the office though."

 

Mick choked on his drink. "No, yeah, definitely not." He paused. "You don't think that Nureyev guy knows about that too, do you?"

 

Rita thought for a moment. "He's probably too distracted by Mista Steel right now to notice anythin’."

 

Mick squeezed her hand again. "I kind of know the feeling."

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi: mariusperkins on most places


End file.
